TODAY: Johnson’s contract is worth $10MM in guaranteed money, The Associated Press reports. He will be paid $4.5MM in 2017 and 2018, with a $1MM signing bonus. The righty can earn up to $1.75MM in performance bonuses each season based on games finished. Johnson earns $250K for finishing 30 games, and then another $250K for hitting each of the 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60-game thresholds.
OCTOBER 2: Braves reliever Jim Johnson could have hit free agency during the offseason, but the 33-year-old will instead continue his career in Atlanta. He and the Braves have agreed to a two-year contract extension, according to a team announcement. Financial details are not yet available, but the deal will keep the Moye Sports Associates client under Atlanta’s control through the 2018 season.
Johnson is amid his second stint as a Brave after signing a one-year, $2.5MM deal with the club last offseason. That ended up being a bargain for the rebuilding Braves, as Johnson has logged a 3.11 ERA, 9.33 K/9 and 2.83 BB/9 over 63 2/3 innings. Johnson has also kept up a career-long trend of inducing ground balls, having posted a 55 percent mark, and added 19 saves on 22 chances. Overall, 2016 has been a major bounce-back season for Johnson, who fared poorly with the Tigers, Athletics and Dodgers during the previous two campaigns.
Despite his struggles elsewhere, Johnson has clearly found a home in Atlanta. Previously, he recorded a 2.25 ERA over 48 innings with the team in 2015 before it traded him to Los Angeles in July. Part of the reason for Johnson’s success with the Braves is his strong relationship with pitching coach Roger McDowell, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com (Twitter link). Going forward, the longtime Oriole – who has 153 career saves – said Sunday the plan is for him to remain as the Braves’ closer, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). That means Johnson will continue leading a bullpen cast that should include the likes of Ian Krol, Arodys Vizcaino and Mauricio Cabrera, among others, in 2017.
It’s unknown how much interest Johnson would have garnered as a free agent, of course, but playoff contenders were zeroing in on him as a trade target over the summer. In fact, a deal nearly came to fruition in late July, and the Blue Jays, Mets and Rangers were among the clubs that eyed Johnson in advance of the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline. An unidentified team also claimed Johnson on revocable waivers in August, but the Braves pulled him back after they and the other club weren’t able to agree on a trade. Now, after nearly joining his sixth major league team over the summer, he’s primed to stay in Atlanta for the next couple years.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
What
Whao
Extensions are killing an already mortally anemic free agent market. Its really getting under my skin. Give me something to enjoy this winter.
I think they signed him just to get under your skin
The reliever market is massive, what are you talking about? Borderline teams, like your Phillies, could turn to contenders if they added 2-3 names off the FA reliever list who had career-normal seasons.
If the phillies want to turn things around real quick, maybe over pay for chapman or mark the shark, or kenley jansen.
I’m not talking specifically about the Reliever market, I’m just saying in general, like Johnson probably was top 50– that’s one less potentially impact player that we get the pleasure of tracking over the offseason–
Oh no.
Not sure what the dollar figures are at this time, but I will say that Johnson has for the most part pitched effectively in a Braves uniform.
Such a braves thing to do…
For whatever reason, he’s pitched well as Brave. I figured he would re-sign (assuming they offered).
With the FA looking to be so thin, and the Braves flush with lots of cash, you wonder if they don’t explore deals to land players under more unfavorable contracts like Kemp.
I would assume this would be a very team-friendly deal. If he continues putting up the numbers he has with ATL, he still could be a trade asset at any point that some younger, better end-of-the-‘pen options are ready: Viz, Cabrera, Shae Simmons, AJ Minter over the next 2 seasons. Honestly, I can see this as easing Viz back into a setup role to prove he’s healthy and dominant to other teams then possibly shopping him, especially if Cabrera/Simmons continues to mature.
Completely agree with you. A team friendly deal with another year may make him more attractive versus being a rental. I like Viz in a setup role, with the closer combo you mentioned. Should be an interesting off season in Braves country.
What the heck is he doing!? Even if he wants to stay in Atlanta he could have milked them for more money if he’d waited one month for free agency. Limiting the market for your services to just one team (especially with the market being as thin as it is this year) is just stupid.
Atlanta is going to be pretty tight fisted on its cash as Coppollela has already expressed the bullpin is not priority for him. Johnson wouldn’t have milked the Braves for anything. He also doesn’t have the kind of production to be THAT dominant at the negotiation table, even in a shallow market.
Well then he probably could have gotten more money elsewhere. I know he likes playing for the Braves but it’s possible someone else could have offered him enough money to sway him. There is just no reason for him to take an extension now, this close to free agency. Whatever money the Braves are now paying him for 2017-2018 would have still been on the table if he’d waited for free agency.
There’s something to be said about security and being (one of) the guy in high-leverage situations. He obviously sees the team is on the up. Why jeopardize this so late in your career if you’ve got a good thing going?
He would have had security anyway if he’d waited out free agency. What could possibly change that would cause the Braves to offer him less money between now and November? He wouldn’t be jeopardizing anything because he’s already basically a free agent. Nothing that happens between now and the end of the season will hurt his stock. Taking an extension at this point was just stupid of him.
Thats your opinion, but maybe he felt like atl was in a good position for the future and he wanted to be a part of it. Its not always about money. He faired poorly elsewhere since leaving the Os so if hes doing good in atl why not stick around
Not everyone is most motivated by money. Who knows at this time what is the biggest motivator for Johnson. Perhaps he just loves working for sinker ball guru McDowell.
In any event Johnson has already decided he was best served by staying a Brave.
No, it’s a fact that he’ll maximize his earning potential if he is allowed to negotiate with all 30 teams rather than limiting the market to one team. This is why Chapman, Nova and Ramos didn’t take extensions. It’s possible that some other team will offer him much more than the Braves. But if they don’t, he can just come back and take whatever the Braves were offering him. Even if he wants to stay with the Braves if he was smart he’d wait out free agency so they’d have to pay him more money.
Even if he wants to stay with the Braves he’d make more money by waiting out free agency so the Braves will have to beat offers from other teams.
Your opinion was that it was stupid of him. And it is still an opinion that he would make more than what the braves gave him in FA. He could have made the same or less. We will never know now. Either way it was his choice and he felt like it was a good deal for him to play where he wants to play.
Why do you care? You’re not the one writing the checks to him, or the one he spends his money on.
Maybe he likes Atlanta. Maybe he wants to see it through into the new stadium.
Who knows, who cares. He’s resigned, move onto the next need for the team.
Maybe he likes Atlanta? I mean, this is a guy who was a non-tender candidate like a year ago, 10 million guaranteed is life-changing money. Johnson’s at the back end of his career and perhaps stability means more to him than a few million dollars extra?
He would have gotten that stability anyway! What could possibly change in the next month that would compel the Braves to change their minds about offering Johnson that much money? He’s not pitching at the moment, he’s chilling at home watching the playoffs. So he’s really not gaining ANYTHING by forfeiting the few million extra dollars.
I’m sure he likes Atlanta, but he’ll get the same amount or more money to play in Atlanta if he waits out free agency and is allowed to negotiate with all 30 teams.
There’s other stuff too. These guys are human beings. Like, you know what I hate? Moving. Even if I was wealthy enough to pay someone to move all my stuff, there’s still the whole process – finding a new place to live, finding a new school for the kids, figuring out a new city etc.
That’s real world stuff that money doesn’t just fix. Maybe Johnson and his wife/kids love their home and neighborhood and schools. Just because we assume most baseball players are mercenary that doesn’t mean they all are. At the end of this contract Johnson will be 35 years old and will have made 35 million dollars in his career. He’s played for a few different teams, which means he’s shuffled his family all over the country a few times. Maybe he’s content with 35 million – money most of us will never we see in our lifetimes – and prefers not to play the dating game with other teams anymore.
None of that has any bearing on what I just said. If Johnson had let his contract expire, then once the season was over he could still go home and watch the World Series and then he would enter the offseason as a free agent and be able to take offers from all 30 teams. The Braves would likely have to pay him more money if they have to outbid the other 29 teams than if they are they only team allowed to negotiate with him. So in the end, he could still re-sign with the Braves and might even get more money in the process. And even if no one offers him more than he got in this extension, the Braves’ offer would still be there in the offseason. They’re not going to rescind it just because he didn’t take it during the season. So he really had nothing to lose and everything to gain by waiting out free agency.
Or the braves said, here’s an offer, take it or leave it, you have a week, we’re getting it out of the way now. Don’t want to go into a season with (basically) a rookie manager in a new ballpark without having the back end of our bullpen sorted out, and we’re not waiting until December to figure things out. Teams do that stuff all the time. Johnson wasn’t going to get much more than 2/10 on the open market. He’s not that great.
Now that’s just plain silly. If Johnson was worth that much on October 2nd he’ll be worth that much in the offseason. I don’t think the Braves would be offended by Johnson (or any player) wanting to test the open market and see how much other teams are willing to pay. Most players do that. Maybe some other team would have offered Johnson more than 2/10, maybe they wouldn’t have. But now he’ll never know. Taking an extension was just stupid.
Just because they made the offer doesn’t mean they need to continue to honor it all off-season. They could have very well picked up a free agent, or decided to stick with another internal option, and not picked up this offer three weeks from now. There certainly is a downside, even if it is rarely publicized.
Could he have made more? Possibly. He could also have done worse. He is being paid fairly to compete for a team he seems to enjoy playing for. He fared poorly in LA, which doesn’t bode well for him trying to get extra money on the F.A market. The one area that isn’t really lacking in the F.A market this year is mediocre relievers.
They don’t HAVE to honor it all offseason, but why wouldn’t they? Johnson isn’t about to get injured sitting on the coach watching the World Series and the Braves still value him as a player and as a person. There is literally no downside to waiting out free agency and seeing what kind of offers he can get. Had he waited out free agency, 2 years $10m would have been the floor for him.
If they signed someone else to take that role? They aren’t going to wait for him to make a decision, they are going to continue to push for what works for the team. What’s to say that they won’t pick up someone like Grilli on a 3.5m contract again? Or if they feel they can compete, get one of the truly dominate closers? Or he got in a one car accident, ala Tommy Hanson, and ended up with more than a concussion?
On the flip side – Let’s be real, he wasn’t going to get much more than 2/10 even if he did gamble. He was a disaster pitching for the Tigers, A’s and Dodgers, and wasn’t exceptional for the braves. There are a stack of other pitchers in the 4-6m range with comparable peripherals.
He received a fair offer, and chose not to risk it. He balanced the floor/ceiling of the gamble, and opted to take the safe route. Once you hit a certain threshold, the additional dollars don’t make as much as a difference compared to the stability/comfort aspect of a position.
Personally – I’d rather stay at the devil I know than to switch to a devil I don’t for a moderate increase, and that’s without factoring in the uncertainty of potentially having to take less.
You can never have too much bullpen help and I’m sure the Braves would have made space for him if he was interested. No player on the eve of his free agency is worried about some freak accident hurting his earning potential. Had he waited out free agency, 2 years $10m would have been the floor for him.
#getsmacked
I can’t imagine the Braves offered to much money. This is good for Johnson to because apparently the only team he can pitch for half decently is the Braves.
He had 3 2-WAR seasons for BAL, including back-to-back 50-save seasons. Sure, that’s awhile ago, but the stuff is there.
Thought Boston may have taken a shot at him had he gone the FA route
Love this move. Now get a package together for Archer, bring back Frenchy & Kelly Johnson, sign Jason Castro & trade for Ervin Santana.
Are you trying to make them lose games?
Frenchy will be back. Not sure about Johnson. Castro may be all that is left in the catcher market, outside a deal for McCann or Norris. Recker is a solid AAA catcher who can come up and be serviceable if there is an injury.
And then trade Johnson back to the Mets mid season
What are the best prospects we are willing to give up to get McCann?
The Astros have said they will try and sign Castro and the Orioles have said the same for Wieters.
Obtaining McCann would depend a lot on how much the Yankees are willing to eat of his salary. Although there were good times in Atlanta for McCann , it is no certainty that he would waive his no trade clause to return either. From my understanding his house there was on the market a few months ago and several articles mention that McCann’s biggest desire is to continue to be a Yankee. Even his long term friend, Mark DeRosa has been quoted as saying that McCann has no desire to go back to Atlanta.
I hope none. I’m not sure what the love affair is with Atlanta fans and McCann, he’s aged a lot, he’s still slow as cookie dough rolling down a hill & he’s not worth what the Yankee’s will want.
If they give him away, sure.
I’d prefer to keep Flowers & Recker, and run each of them out a decent amount, keep them fresh and spend the $$ and talent on the starting pitching market, which is very thin.
That is an unfair assessment of cookie dough.
I agree. That is a terrible insult to cookie dough. It would probably roll down a hill much faster than McCann.
I don’t blame him. Even if the braves stink, Georgia is a nice place to live.
Is anyone concerned that McDowell straightened his mechanics and mental approach out twice but is no longer a Brave over Johnson’s two year contract.